Railway-rail joint.



No. 731,582. v Y I PATENTED JUNE 23, 1993. H. T. LocKwooD.

RAILWAY RAIL JoINT.

APPLIOATVLON FILED SEPT. 9,' 1902.

UNITED STATES Patented June 23, 1903.

PATTENT Grrrcs.

RAILWAY-RAIL JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 731,582, dated rune 23, 1903.

i Application tiled September 9.1902I Serial No. 122,703. (No model.) p

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, HARRY T. LOCKWOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county `of Philadelphia and State oit-Pennsylvania, have invented new and `useful `Improvements in Railway-Rail` i rails and yet the rails may be quickly and easily disconnected when desired.

A With the foregoing in mind the invention will be fully understood from the following description and claims when' taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in whichp Figure l is a side elevation of the joint con-` stituting the preferred embodiment of my invention with portions of i one of the rails broken away. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the rail-connectingplates forming part of the joint. Figs. 3 and 4. are enlarged transverse sections taken in the planes indicated by the broken lines 3 3 and 4.4, respectively, of Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of one rail, and-Fig. 6 is` an enlarged transverse section taken in the plane indicated bythe broken line 6 6 of Fig. 2.

i Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings, referring to which- A A are the rails of my improved joint, which are arranged end to end, as shown, and

` B B are the rail-connecting plates, which are "heads thereof.

disposed at opposite sides of the meeting portions of the rails and between the bases and The rails A are similar in construction, and therefore a detailed description of the one shown at the right of Fig. l and in Fig. iwill suffice to impart an understanding of both. Said rail is provided in the under side of its head a, at its end and at opposite sides of its p web b with recesses or sockets c, and it is also provided in its base d at opposite sides of web o with recesses or sockets e and in the under side of its head a, at opposite sides of web b with recesses or sockets f. The recesses or sockets f are preferably disposed above the recesses or sockets e and at about the proportional distance illustrated from the end of the rail. The rail-connecting plates B are also similar in construction and will both be understoodby reference to the one shown in Figs. 2 and 6. The-said plate in the preferred embodiment of the invention is made of one piece of steel or other suitable material and comprises upper and lower resilient arms g 7L, which are formed by bifurcating the ends of the plate and have rounded corof the rails, lugs k, arranged on the upper 'arms gin positions tol enter the recesses or sockets f of the rails, lugs Z, arranged on the lower arms 7L in positions to enter the recesses or sockets e in the rails, and a body'portion m, arranged intermediate of the pairs of resilient arms and having a lug n, adapted to enter the alined recesses or sockets c of the rails and also havinga base-angep, arranged to bear on the bases of the rails and provided with notches q for the passage of the spikes used to :fasten the rails to a sleeper or tie.

In the practice of my invention when the two alined rails A are to be joined the arms g h of the plates B are pressed and held together by any suitable means, andthe plates are placed at opposite sides of the meeting portions of the rails, so that their lugs n enter the recesses or sockets cin the rails. The arms g h are then released, when they will spring in opposite directions, and thereby seat and hold their lugsk Zin the recesses or sockets f e, respectively, of the rails. When the plates are arranged in the manner described relative to the rails, it will be .observed that they will connect the rails in a. strong and safe manner and will not be liable to be casually displaced or disconnectedfromthe rails by the shocks and jars to which railjoints are ordinarily subjected, which is an important desideratum. When, however, it

`is desired to disconnect the plates from the ICO ` ing of the same.

on the arms g h out of engagement with the recesses or sockets f e and withdrawing the lugs n from the recesses or sockets c.

The recesses or sockets in the rails are preferably made slightly longer than the complementary lugs on the connecting-plates, as shown, in order not to interfere with the eX- pansion and contraction of the rails.

I have entered into a detailed description of the construction and relative arrangement of the parts embraced in the present and preferred embodiment of my invention in order to impart a full, clear, and exact understand- I do not desire, however, to be understood as conning myself to such specific construction and relative arrangement of parts, as such changes or modifications may be made in practice as fairly fall within the scope of my invention as claimed.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. In a rail-joint, the combination of rails arranged end to end, and a connecting-plate arranged at one side of the webs of Jthe rails and between the bases and heads thereof, and having resilient arms at its ends; said rails and the arms of the plate being provided with coacting engaging means, held in direct engagement with each other by the resiliency of the arms.

2. In a rail-joint, the combination of rails arranged end to end, and a connecting-plate arranged at one side of the webs of the rails, and between the basesand heads thereof, and having bifurcations in its ends, and also having upper and lower resilient arms, formed by said bifurcations, and held by their resiliency in direct engagement with the bases and heads of the rails.

3. In a rail-joint, the combination of rails arranged end to end, and having recesses or sockets in vtheir bases and heads, and a resilient connecting-plate arranged at one side of the webs of the rails, and havinglugs adapted, in virtue of the resiliency of the plate, to be sprung into and out of the recesses or sockets in the bases and heads of the rails.

4. In a rail-joint, the combination of rails arranged end to end, and having recesses or sockets in their heads at said ends, and also having recesses or sockets in their bases and heads at a distance from the ends, and a resilient connecting-plate arranged at one side connecting-plate arranged at one side of the webs of the rails, and having a lug seated in the first-mentioned recesses or sockets of the rails, and also having bifurcations in its ends,

and lugs on the arms formed bysaid bifurcations, adapted to be sprung into and out of the second-mentioned recesses or sockets of the rails.

6. In a rail-joint, the combination of rails,

arranged end to end, and having recesses or sockets in their bases and heads, and a metallic connecting-plate arranged between the bases and heads of the rails, and having bifurcations in its ends, and also having lugs on the arms formed by said bifurcations, removably arranged in the recesses or sockets inthe bases and heads of the rails.

7. In a rail-joint, the combination of rails arranged end to end, and having recesses or sockets in their bases and heads at opposite sides of their webs, and connecting-plates arranged at opposite sides of the webs of the rails, and having resilient arms at their ends, bearing lugs arranged in the recesses or sockets of the rails.

8. In a rail-joint, the combination of rails arranged end to end, and having recesses or sockets c f in their heads at opposite sides of their webs, and also having recesses or sockets e in their bases at opposite sides of their webs, and connecting-plates arranged at opposite sides of the webs of the rails, and having lugs disposed in the sockets c of the rails, and base-anges, and also having resilient arms at their ends bearing lugs arranged in thev recesses e f of the rails.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY T. LOCKWOOD.

Witnesses:

GEORGE A. SToKEs, HORACE T. NoLEN.

ICO 

